KingSett Capital in talks to buy half of Scotia Plaza

KingSett Capital in talks to buy half of Scotia Plaza

Real estate-focused private equity firm KingSett Capital is set to acquire 50 per cent of Scotia Plaza, Canada’s second tallest office building, from Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T) and H&R REIT (HR.UN-T)  The potential sale comes about four years after Dream Office REIT , acquired two-thirds of the complex and H&R REIT bought the rest for about $1.3 billion.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail

Hudson’s Bay Co. sales climb with global expansion

Hudson’s Bay Co. expects sales of $15 billion from its global retail banners this year as the Toronto-based department store chain opens new stores and makes inroads into the European market with new stores in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. That is almost quadruple the company’s annual revenue when it went public in 2013, when sales were about $4 billion.

Financial Post

REIT reclassification good news, BMO says

A rising tide lifts all boats and that’s expected to be the case for the stock market reorganization planned for this September.  That’s when investors will see the establishment of real estate as a separate, stand-alone sector under the Global Industry Classification System (GICS).

Property Biz Canada

Province to help pay for second phase of Ottawa LRT

The province will spend more than $1 billion the help pay for the second phase of Ottawa’s light rail transit project, including extensions to the airport and Trim Road, Premier Kathleen Wynne said on Friday.  The long-awaited funding announcement means the province is pitching in its one-third share of the $3-billion second phase of LRT.

Ottawa Business Journal

Former MPs call on NCC to revisit LeBreton bid process

In a joint opinion piece published in the Citizen on Monday, former Conservative MP John Baird and former Liberal MP John Manley are asking the NCC to consider the best elements of both competing bids for the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats planned for the 21.6 hectares of long-dormant downtown land along the Ottawa River.

Ottawa Citizen

Romanowski takes on new role with Arlington Street

Ed Romanowski has enjoyed an exciting and successful real estate career spanning three decades.  Last week he began another exciting venture as the chief operating officer of Arlington Street Investments. Focused on growth, Romanowski expects the company will double the value of development in its portfolio within the next four years to more than $2 billion.

Calgary Herald

A downgrade of Brookfield Canada Office Properties stock

A recent tour of the Calgary office market prompted TD Securities to downgrade Brookfield Canada Office Properties (BOX.UN-T). Analyst Sam Damiani cut his rating on the stock to hold from buy and reduced his price target to $30 per share from $31.

Financial Post

Edmonton city planners oppose 45-storey Oliver tower

City officials are for the second time this year saying no to a massive residential tower. The Emerald Tower, planned for Jasper Avenue and 114 Street, would soar 45 storeys and cast a thin shadow all the way to the north end of 104 Avenue’s Oliver Square in the winter.

Edmonton Journal

Writing chapter four of Walmart’s story

With the usual mix of formal presentations and entertainment, Walmart rounded off its annual Shareholders’ Week with an event which is unmatched in the business world. This year, in a set-piece presentation, which was eye-catching itself through the use of holographic technology, Doug McMillon painted a picture of Walmart’s history.

Retail Analysis

Wal-Mart to partner with Uber, Lyft on grocery delivery

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT-N) will begin testing the delivery of groceries using Uber and Lyft drivers, aiming to match the convenience of services offered by Amazon.com Inc. and other e-commerce companies.  The retailer will start trying out Uber in Phoenix and Lyft in Denver within the next two weeks.

Financial Post

WPT Industrial REIT announces further investment by AIMCo

WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust  (TSX: WIR.U) has been advised that Alberta Investment Management Corporation on behalf of certain of its clients has purchased an additional 4,468,085 trust units of the REIT from Welsh Property Trust, LLC  at a price of $11.75 per Unit.

Canada Newswire

Downtown Halifax revival

More than two years ago one of Halifax’s prominent developers was asked whether he was worried about there being too much product on the drawing board.  His response was, “Either we are all right or we are all crazy.”  Since that time those buildings have continued and there are dozens of large projects in peninsular Halifax.

The Chronicle Herald

Canadian municipalities in ‘ridiculous’ predicament

It may have been the first time a famous politician chided a journalist for trying to end an interview too early.  This week, Calgary’s popular Mayor Naheed Nenshi was kind enough to sit down for a live webcast interview at the Free Press News Café. In town for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities national conference, Nenshi agreed to talk about the challenges he faces in Calgary.

Winnipeg Free Press

Infrastructure decisions will be left in hands of cities: Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising to leave infrastructure decisions in the hands of municipalities, providing a welcome signal to increasingly antsy mayors.  Mr. Trudeau made the comments in a speech to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Winnipeg. He said Ottawa will focus on setting overall spending objectives listing climate change and promoting economic growth as examples.

Globe and Mail

BlackRock sales a sign of life for Singapore’s office market

BlackRock Inc. said it would sell a 43-storey Singapore office tower for $2.5-billion – one of at least three office building deals in the last two months for a market gripped by worries about oversupply and rising vacancies.  The sale to Qatar Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund, is Singapore’s largest office transaction.

Globe and Mail

Featured Column

5 ways to get your commercial property leased

Location and demand stand out as the major leasing drivers of commercial property however they are not the only factors. Here’s a few tips.

Read more

Why do public planning projects go off the rails?

It’s been called “local obstructionism” but better known by the somewhat pejorative term “Not In My Back Yard” or “NIMBYism.” It’s a shroud of righteousness worn by some people who resist almost any change.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

B.C. short on transit contributions: report

The tug of war between the province and local cities over how to come up with transit money to tap into a matching federal contribution is heating up this week.  Researchers from the David Suzuki Foundation say a provincial transit plan, announced in 2008 by then-premier Gordon Campbell, promised to contribute $4.75-billion for transit improvements across the province.

Globe and Mail

REOC Financial Reports

	REITs & REOCs – First-quarter 2016 report
	RENX has prepared a table with a convenient list of the companies and a summary of links to their reports that will be updated quarterly. First-quarter results are now arriving. Canadian REITs & REOCs – First-quarter 2016 report

 

Retail

Canadian Tire (almost) ready to roll

A second replacement tenant has been found for the former Target store in the Grant Park Shopping Centre. GoodLife Fitness has leased the remaining 35,000 square feet of the roughly 120,000 square feet Target used to occupy in the Grant Avenue mall.

Winnipeg Free Press

Vancouver outlet mall evacuated due to possible threat

A busy Vancouver-area mall was evacuated Sunday due to a possible threat.  Droves of shoppers and mall employees were suddenly ushered out of the McArthurGlen outlet mall near Vancouver International Airport Sunday afternoon by security staff.

The Province

Calgary retailers hit the road during downturn

Brady Adkins peers tentatively into a long white bus parked on a bustling downtown Calgary street.  As the warm sounds of music played on vinyl wash over him, Adkins’ eyes widen as he scans the hundreds of albums neatly packed in bins along the walls.  “Never bought a record off a bus before,” he says. “Not a bad idea to go for it.”

CBC

New Development

Businesses pushed out as Vancouver’s CRE gets redeveloped

For more than four decades, Ethel’s Boutique has been a fixture in Kitsilano, with the last 30 of those years spent serving customers out of a quaint, one-storey storefront in the 2300-block of West 4th Ave. Owner Margie Sheppard says her mom, Ethel Pollock, combined her love of fashion and sewing by opening the business in 1970 in the same neighbourhood where she lived.

Vancouver Sun

A look at three Montreal neighbourhoods

A leisurely stroll up St-Denis St. isn’t what it used to be.  Warm weather usually brings an increase in foot traffic along the trendy street, but some terraces are empty at lunchtime and sidewalks are often virtually deserted. Retailers are struggling to stay afloat in the face of ongoing construction work on one of the Plateau’s main commercial arteries.

Montreal Gazette

The planners challenge, to revive Valois Village

It takes more than some trees and new sidewalks to raise a village  I sympathize with the City of Pointe-Claire’s planners and shakers as they wade into the process of determining how to resuscitate Valois Village (now that the ghost mall has been Godzilla-ed).  The problem is a real cracker shared by several sister villages in the West Island.

Montreal Gazette

St. Joseph’s Oratory will get millions for Montreal’s 375th anniversary

St. Joseph’s Oratory is expected to receive millions of dollars in government funds to upgrade the building and visitor facilities and build an observation deck at the top of its dome.  Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, federal Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and Quebec Treasury Board President Carlos Leitão will be at the Oratory to officially announce new funding for the Montreal institution.

Montreal Gazette

Renovation and Restoration

Grand patch job for Windsor’s federal building

The federal government’s Paul Martin Building, a six-storey early-1930s mainstay of downtown Windsor, Ont. is finally getting an overdue facelift. Scaffolding surrounds the 1930s-era building as part of the $3.27-million repair.  The building, like numerous ones that have long been downtown landmarks in Canadian cities, for decades was home to federal offices including the central post office.

Daily Commercial News

Infrastructure

Fengate closes on its first U.S. infrastructure investment

Fengate Capital Management has reached financial close on the acquisition of a 25% equity interest in San Juan Mesa Wind Project LLC. San Juan Mesa Wind Project LLC is the owner of a 120 megawatt fully-contracted operating wind project located in New Mexico. The San Juan Mesa acquisition is Fengate’s first investment in the United States.

Canada Newswire

Other

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